Hands Like Houses
by electriccghosts
Summary: Home-schooled dancer Sienna Pollock must enroll in public school when her mother becomes ill. There she meets playboy Drake Parker who may not be the person everyone makes him out to be...


_English 3 8:00-8:50 Mrs. Hayfer Room 139_

_Journalism 8:55-9:45 Mrs. Louis Room 331_

_Algebra 2 9:50-10:40 Mr. Won Room 291_

_Marine SC 1 10:45-11:35 Ms. Shaft Room 276_

_Lunch B 11:35-12:20 CAF _

_Amer Gov 12:25-1:15 Mr. Birch Room 222_

_Spanish 3 1:20-2:10 Mr. Ruiz Room 351_

_Dance Rep 4 2:15-3:00 Miss LaRue Room 100_

Sienna Pollock's head was stuck in her bare locker. Her eyes went back and forth between the map of the school and her new schedule. Sienna's educational career up until that year had been spent in her mother's apartment above her dance studio, Studio 11. The only reason Sienna was at Belleview High School was because her mother had fallen ill with breast cancer. Her treatments left her unable to work in the studio or teach Sienna properly.

The final bell sang down the hall. Sienna snapped her head up, nearly whacking it on the locker door. The hall around her was draining fast. She slipped the map and schedule into her binder, and slipped the binder into her bag.

130 Hillson. 131 Anderson. 132 Frost. 133 Rime. 134 Drover. 135 Baker. 136. Hoffman. 137 McDowel. 138 Long. 139 Hayfer.

Sienna came to an abrupt stop, reaching her destination. She took a deep breath and walked through the door. She half expected it to be like in the movies where the new girl walks in and the room falls silent as everyone sizes her up, but it wasn't. Kids were sitting on desks gossiping. Girls compared first day outfits while the boys talked about how much hotter the girls got over the summer. Nobody paid any attention as Sienna slipped in.

She maneuvered around the room until she found a desk not occupied by a cell phone toting teenager. She plopped her bag up on her wooden desk and listened to the conversation around her.

It wasn't like she had never interacted with people her own age. Sienna spent all of her free time in her mother's studio dancing along. She did enjoy the company of the older women and men, her favorite customers were the teenagers. Grabbing coffee with them after a lesson wasn't an uncommon occurrence. They swapped numbers and would occasionally hang out, but Sienna didn't consider any of them her best friends.

"All right. Everyone get in your seats."

A middle aged woman with a bobbing blonde bob hair style and a scowl walked through the door with a stack of freshly printed papers. She stopped abruptly and stared into the crowd.

"Drake Parker- I hate you."

Sienna's eyes went wide at the blatant rudeness towards this Drake Parker kid. There wasn't even a trace of humor in her voice. It was pure hatred.

"I know."

Sienna's gaze drifted from the front of the room to the source of the voice. The boy oozed arrogance. He sat leaned back in his seat. He wore a smirk on his face and a red and white striped v neck shirt. He finished off his look by tossing a shrug.

Mrs. Hayfer began passing out the stapled papers. She spoke as she moved down the front of the room.

"This is your syllabus. I'm not going to waste time going over it. Most of you are intelligent enough to read it yourself. We're going to dive right into things today-" A chorus of groans interrupted her. "I know. Learning while you're at school is a terrible thing."

She finished passing out the stack of papers and moved on to passing out thin books. Sienna scanned the syllabus to see what it is they were going to be reading –The Crucible. Sienna had read the play the previous year.

Before Sienna even received her weathered copy, Mrs. Hayfer started talking.

"I'm sure none of you know what The Crucible is about, so I'll just save myself the disappointment of asking. I'm also going to save my breath by describing it to you. I want all of Act I read by tomorrow." More groans. "I'm a terrible person, I know."

Sienna slipped the syllabus into her binder and flipped open the yellow paged book. She didn't enjoy The Crucible the first time she read it, but at least she wouldn't be going in blind.

Mrs. Hayfer began to take attendance. Sienna was focused on the tiny black words, though she kept her ears open for her name. Her name fell after the boy Mrs. Hayfer openly admitted her hate for moments earlier. The rage reappeared when his name was called again, and it lingered when Sienna's name was called.

"Sienna Pollock?"

Sienna raised her hand and mocked what everyone else had done before her, "Um, I'm here."

Mrs. Hayfer's eyes stayed on her paper as she made a tiny check next to Sienna's name. A wave of social anxiety passed through Sienna's body as she felt a few people turn to stare at her. They weren't familiar with her name, and though there were always new students at Belleview High School, they were always intrigued. Sienna just offered a weak smile and turned her head back to the book.

After a minute Mrs. Hayfer finished the list and a calm settled over the class. It was routine. All the students around Sienna had been sitting in desks listening to teachers for years. They'd read the books, even when they hated them. They did the assignments and took the tests. It was all very new for Sienna, though. She tried focusing on the book, but it was just as boring the second time as it was the first.

Her eyes darted up to the clock. What time was the class over? 8:50? Oh God. It was only 8:16. How did time manage to pass so slowly?

Sienna sighed and tilted her head back to the book. A snicker floated across the room. A few heads raised, Mrs. Hayfer's included.

"I thought I made myself clear when I said I wanted you all to silently read," She scowled.

The routine settled back in. Sienna, however, did not go back to the book. Her eyes wandered around the crowded room until they fell on a certain Drake Parker. He was watching her. And something told her he was the one that caused the disruption moments earlier. He mouthed something that she couldn't understand. In return she scrunched her face up and shrugged. Then she turned back to the book.

When the bell finally rang, Sienna was so happy she muttered a brief prayer.

She slipped her things into her bag and bolted out of the room. There was a five minute break between classes, but she was paranoid about being late. Especially when she had to go up two flights of stairs.

She made it to her second class. She made it to all of her classes. She ate lunch with a girl she had met in her Marine Science class. It was better than being alone. The one class she was looking forward to was Dance, and even then, she was eager for the day to be over.

"Sienna? Oh my God! That _is_ you!"

Sienna cocked her head. One of the girls that took private lessons with her mother, Claire, emerged from a group and sprinted in Sienna's direction. She was a tiny girl with big brown eyes and wavy locks that were the same color. She hugged her.

"Yeah," Sienna said with a smile. "It's me."

"I can't believe you didn't tell me you were going public this year."

"Well, I've been pretty… wrapped up with my Mom lately."

Claire frowned, "How is she doing?"

"She's been better," Sienna shrugged. "She really wishes she could be teaching."

"I wish she was teaching, too. I started going to this clueless broad on Cambell Street," Claire made a face. "Terrible! Just terrible."

"You can always stop by. Mom never gets visitors anymore. It would make her day."

Claire smiled, "I'll bring some of my famous chocolate chip cookies."

"Miss Pollock, it's so nice to see you again."

Sienna turned to see Miss LaRue, the women she auditioned for a few weeks earlier. LaRue looked to be in her early thirties. She was stunning, with bouncing blonde curls that surrounded her baby doll like face. She had a dancer's body. It was petite yet physically structured. She offered a smile.

"Now, I know you ladies consider yourself a tight family. You've all been in this program together since first placement… and even before then, you took dance lessons together. We don't usually accept new students in such a high level class, but Sienna is… rare. She auditioned, and how here she is! She truly is talented, and I want you all to offer her a warm welcome."

The only person who smiled was Claire. The rest of the girls, already dressed in yoga pants and spaghetti strap tops, glared.

Miss LaRue's grin wavered. She clapped her hands together, "Right! Well, Claire- Sienna- go change. Quickly. We've got a lot to do today."

Claire tugged Sienna across the worn floors of the famous dance studio of Belleview High. The two girls dropped their bags on the benches in the locker rooms. They changed quickly, exchanging no words. When they emerged, the groups of 7 girls were already stretching. Claire offered Sienna a giggle as they took their places.

Over the light music in the background, Miss LaRue spoke,

"This year, we're going to be covering a few major dance styles that you all should be familiar with. Ballet. Swing. Modern- and drum roll please- Belly. Yes ladies, we will in fact be belly dancing this year. I finally got it approved."

The girls broke their serious disposition to clap. If you hadn't have heard what LaRue said, one would think she just announced each girl would be getting a million dollars.

"All right, settle down. As always, we're going to have a show after each lesson. We are also suited up to have a few productions between our official Belleview High stunts. Now let's get started."

The warm up routine wasn't anything new to Sienna. She'd done every warm up imaginable with her mother. After warm up they moved on to some basic ballet practice. Being in such a high level dance class, it was obvious everyone had done the moves a thousand times before. Ballet was the starting point for nearly every little girl in the dance community. But it was nice to not start the year off with such rigorous training. It was a nice way to end her first day.

The group did not wrap up until the final bell rang. Sienna didn't really mind. She enjoyed dancing. The locker room was a world away from what she had experienced at the beginning of the class. The girls gossiped loudly as they tore off their sweaty clothes. Sienna didn't really know who they were talking about, but she enjoyed the caddy chit chat.

Finally, her curiosity got the best of her.

"Do any of you know who Drake Parker is?"

There was a brief silence that fell upon the room before it erupted in giggles. Sienna blushed a little.

"Are you serious? Drake Parker is **THE** most attractive-"

"The most sought after-"

"The most yummy-"

"Talented-"

"In more than one way-"

"Wonderful creature Belleview High has ever known."

"I think you guys are pushing it a little far," Claire said, rolling her eyes.

Cassidy returned the eye gesture, "Yeah. Says a girl who dated him."

"Please," Claire sang as she slipped her shoes on. "Drake Parker has dated every girl in this school."

"Except Home School over there," Grinned Mila, who seemed to be the leader of the group. "I'm sure that he'll be chasing after you within the next few days. But watch out… his bark is as big as his bite."

She winked and the room erupted in laughter. Even Claire let out a chuckle. Sienna's face turned a darker shade of pink.

"I don't know about that," She said as she fished out her car keys. Or rather, her mother's car keys.

Mila roughly brushed passed her, "It doesn't matter what you think about it, Home School. Drake Parker gets what Drake Parker wants."

Claire and Sienna walked to the nearly empty parking lot together, though their cars were on opposite sides.

"Is it true what they said about Drake?" Sienna asked.

Claire hesitated before shrugging, "I don't know, Sienna. He's just… He's just Drake."

"But you dated him?"

"Yeah. Everyone dates him, though. For like a week. Then he moves on. Listen, I gotta go. I'll text you later tonight. Is your number still the same?"

"Yeah. Okay. I should go too. My Mom will want to hear all the wonderful details about my first day."

The two parted. Claire walked over to her faded yellow Bug decorated in cute bumper stickers, and Sienna crossed the lot to her decade old family Nissan painted a mute gray.

She sure was going to have a lot to tell her mother….


End file.
